Don't see many people going for it but would be nice for Hunters to have Melee and Petless (ranger) options... although I haven't really touched the class since Wrath.

One thing I can say about WOW, it would be nice if we chose our classes more out of Lore/Aesthetics than gameplay. I was never happy when they decided to make all 3 Hunter and Warlock specs involve pets (in Vanilla you didn't use them, Locks just had imps phase shifted) and was even more annoyed when Frost Mages became a Pet spec.

Same goes with Melee I suppose. Someone might actually want to play a Pet Class, but a Melee one. And no such options exist. Class specs are far too rigid imo.

Anchor the pets to the hunter (e.g. force them to target of target on the hunter while staying within melee range) and combine the health pools like the dark shaman encounter and I see no reason it would not work as a tank spec. The pets already duck AoE damage already so it would not double dip and it would even be a bit unique.

I think it would be cool. I know a lot would disagree, but it's something really different. Hunter's have the Marksman spec which is about being the cool, hardcore marksman with ranged weapons. Beast Master is about you and controlling the most ferocious pets. It'd be cool if you took on the role of the Beast Master and could spec into melee weapons (With the option to still be a ranged BM hunter) and be like a brutal fighter that also combines brunt force attacks with pet commands.

I would like to see it become an option. 3 specs with no real differentiation is so unnecessary. Rogues have kinda the same problem; visually the same, mechanically basically the same. At that point you may aswell just have 1 spec since the only thing that changes is what school of damage your attacks do.

One of the coolest things about Warhammer Online was the White Lion class, where you play as a woodsman/hunter with an axe and a pet lion. Hunter doesn't have to immediately say "bow". Infact, there are many hunter-gatherer cultures across the world and throughout history where bows are/were not used.

Rift also allows you to do a similar thing in choosing a Warrior-style class with a pet.